The Oracle
by RichLayers
Summary: This is my X-Men story, in which some new characters discover mutations, and eventually make their way to the Xavier Institute and inevitable complications. Please RR!
1. Through Ruby Eyes

James Redbourne never in his life hit his children, for fear he'd send them beyond his reach. This fear was well grounded, in one sense, but as he was a good man and raised his children well, he rarely had a need for severe discipline.  
James met Margaret Owen when he was twenty-three, and swore afterwards that he loved her from the first instant he saw her. He'd always been shy, but he was determined to win her love, and she soon succumbed to his gentle persuasions.  
Three months after they met, he told her his secret. To say she was surprised would be an understatement, but she took it remarkably well after the initial shock. She was a smart woman and not given to prejudices. When she told him she preferred his honesty to anything else, he proposed and they were married within a month.  
James Redbourne was a mutant. He kept it quiet until the call for mutant registration came, but in hopes of proving that mutants were trustworthy, he registered. Luckily he owned his own business, with the partnership of a childhood friend, or he might have been one of the victims of company 'downsizings' that swept the country.  
It was a fairly harmless power, James was sure, but he was careful nonetheless. He could 'push' things into the future, making them disappear for however long he chose. He thought it was a rather useless talent, but he did find occasions to employ it.  
"James?" Margaret asked her husband. "Do you know where my glasses are?" They had been married for almost six years.  
"I know where they'll be in about an hour and a half," he replied without looking at her.  
She gave him an annoyed look. "I have work to do, you know."  
Now he looked at her. "Come here, my darling, and I will make the time worth your while."  
Their first child was conceived, quite by accident, on that night.  
Ruby Margaret Redbourne came into the world on a freezing February morning. Her parents named her Ruby because from time to time her eyes would flash brilliantly red. (She gave the hospital nurses quite a scare.) It was clear she was a mutant but appeared, for the time, to be a purely physical mutation, as no other effects were noted. Around her first birthday her eyes stopped turning red, and they would remain a startling blue for another fourteen years.  
James discovered that he could move living creatures forward in time, completely by mistake. When Ruby was five, she requested a kitten. Since Margaret had wanted one anyway, she brought home an American shorthair they named Pillar, who constantly got underfoot. James tripped over the cat and landed so that the dratted animal was pushed out of the way, and disappeared. For three days the family mourned the cat, until he appeared in the same spot he'd disappeared from, and with a hiss of disapproval ran to the basement.  
When Ruby was eight she noticed a strange swelling around her mother's waistline, and before the year was out, she found herself possessed of a baby brother.  
James William Redbourne II, Jamie, was born on a hot July afternoon, and Ruby found him to be annoyingly cross-eyed and time consuming. He showed, by the time he was four, a knack for making things disappear. He was also the only one who could find them. James Senior, after a headache inducing conversation with his son and some lengthy observations, finally figured out that the boy could somehow carry things around in a pocket of some other dimension. Since he never moved anything very heavy or large, James guessed that the power was limited to things that Jamie could carry, though he suspected his ability might grow in time.  
Ruby started having nightmares when she was fifteen, about the time she started menstruating. Her parents would find her, crying or screaming, talking in strange voices, with her eyes glowing red.  
After a late night of consoling her daughter, and a rough time getting Jamie to school – he was already a handful and since Ruby was staying home sick, he wanted to stay home, too – Margaret sat down to watch the news.  
She frowned as she listened to a report of a horrible plane crash. For some reason it seemed familiar. Listening to a witness report, she suddenly put two and two together.  
She dialed her husband's number frantically and had to calm herself down so he could understand her.  
"The nightmares, James – she's somehow seeing the future. I remembered – put it all together – there was a plane crash on the news and a witness report! Those strange voices – she said the exact same thing!"  
"I'm coming home," James told his breathless wife. "Just try to calm down – don't scare Ruby."  
Far from being frightened, Ruby was relieved. She hadn't known what to make of the dreams – even if she only remembered the vaguest impressions of them afterward – and knowing where they came from made all the difference. Though they were still almost always distressing, she could now assure herself that, though some might consider her a freak, she was at least sane.  
When Jamie was eight he started an irritating habit of taking his big sister's things. As she was now sixteen and her baby brother was above all things, "a total draaaaag!" this tactic usually infuriated her out of all proportion.  
It was when he took a picture of her boyfriend that her second power came to light. She chased him through the house screaming, but when she caught up with him, he refused to retrieve it from wherever he stowed those things that he took.  
"Give it back!" she shrieked, and felt something loose inside herself.  
The framed picture dropped out of nowhere and fell to the ground with a clatter.  
Another phone call brought James home from work.  
After a long afternoon of experimentation, Ruby was able to duplicate the effect with a strange result on both her father and brother.  
That night James explained to Margaret: "As near as I can tell, she's pushing our powers into the future – effectively shutting them off for a certain amount of time."  
"Are you sure it's not hurting you?" was Margaret's main concern.  
James dismissed that with a wave of his hand. "I wonder if the effect would be the same on a really powerful mutant?" he wondered aloud. "Do you think it's limited to the psionic mutations, or do you think she could shut down a physical mutation for a time, too?" Margaret rolled her eyes and, leaving him to his musings, went to check on her daughter.  
Ruby was struggling through her French lesson and seemed unconcerned by her new development. "At least Jamie can't take my stuff anymore!" was her rather vehement comment.  
Jamie caused trouble throughout elementary school. He played pranks against his classmates and teachers alike, making things disappear when they were needed or when someone made him angry – and no one could prove he had them. Soon he was blamed any time anything went missing, which only fed his resentment. By the time he was twelve, he had an infamous school record.  
Ruby was filling out a transfer application to U at Albany – her two years at community college were drawing to a close – when she heard her parents talking.  
"I don't want to send him away, James!" Margaret said sharply. Ruby crept to the door of her room to listen.  
"He's getting into trouble here, love. His teachers don't like him and under that they're scared of him!"  
"He's just a little boy! We can explain – he just needs to be understood!"  
"People are scared of mutants – more all the time! If we send him to this school, he will be understood. He's a smart kid. I know they'll take him."  
"But – "  
"Ruby won't be around to control him anymore, Margaret! What's more, she shouldn't have to. At least at this place they can train him, and no one will take advantage of him."  
Ruby felt a strange lurching sensation, a thing that had never before come unaccompanied with a nightmare. "Mom!" she managed before she collapsed.  
James and Margaret rushed to her room. Her eyes glared red up at them, and this is what they heard in a strange impression of their own voices: "'They're coming!' 'Oh... how could we trust him?' 'Margaret, don't – Ruby! Look out!' 'Ruby!' 'Oh, god, I...' 'James! Oh, please tell me... - ' 'Margaret... it'll be... years....'"  
Margaret looked at her husband, meeting his eyes across from her daughter, and seeing her growing horror reflected in his face. A new voice intruded through Ruby's lips.  
"'Where is she?' 'You'll never find her...'" Ruby's body convulsed and she moaned in pain.  
"Ruby!" her father yelled, yanking her into a sitting position and shaking her until she came out of the trance.  
Her eyes fluttered open and faded back to blue. "Mama," she said weakly.  
"Oh!" Margaret's arms went protectively around her daughter.  
"Ruby..." James said slowly, "What did you see?"  
His daughter winced and rubbed her temple. "I don't remember this time, Daddy."  
Her parents exchanged a long look, but the matter wasn't mentioned again.  
After Jamie got all D's and F's on his next report card, Margaret agreed and Jamie was sent to a school for gifted children in Westchester, New York. His father had a long talk with the owner of the establishment and Jamie was allowed to attend in spite of his grades. "The professor seemed to think that would change with proper guidance," James consoled his wife. "And, dear, he's only a few hours away."  
Ruby, meanwhile, loved college. Her parents had arranged for her to have a room by herself, in case she had any visions, particularly waking ones. As it turned out, they needn't have worried. She saw so little over the next two years that she sometimes wondered if she'd pushed her own power into the future.  
She discovered that having sex was a phenomenal trigger for her second power, but since her boyfriend wasn't a mutant, it had no effect on him.  
Well, that wasn't something she would share with her parents, no matter how curious her dad tended to be about her powers.  
One night after dinner, Richard asked her to marry him. She was delighted but suddenly frightened – he didn't know she was a mutant. She told him she'd have to think about it and arranged to go home for the weekend so that she could talk to her parents.  
Margaret was pleased to hear about Richard. She cautioned Ruby: "You've got to be honest with him, sweetheart. And surely you can wager what his reaction will be – at least a little bit. I mean, you know how he feels about mutants, right? And you know how he feels about you...."  
"I know, Mom. And I've never lied.... I just wish I'd already told him."  
James had taken a phone call and they looked up in surprise as they heard him yell, "You stupid shit!" Since her husband almost never cursed, Margaret rose in alarm. She gestured for her daughter to stay put and moved to the other room to see what was wrong. Ruby followed her.  
"Sorry? How can you say that? How could you do this? This is my family, Thomas!"  
Margaret frowned a question at her husband. Thomas was his business partner.  
"I trusted you! How could you tell... well, you better just hope your warning is enough." James slammed the receiver down and glared at the phone.  
He looked up and saw his daughter, and Margaret's alarm rocketed when she saw the sudden fear in his eyes. His voice was calm and steady when he spoke. "Thomas informs me that he told someone about Ruby's precognitive skills and that the same person offered him a very large sum of money to be paid upon receipt of her to be caged and tell the future for him." He moved to grab his daughter's arm. "He told them where we are – Ruby, you've got to get out of here."  
"But, Dad – "  
There was a crash of glass from downstairs and they heard the door opening.  
"They're coming!" James hissed. Feet on the stairs.  
"Oh, how could we trust him?" Margaret moaned – then she gasped, realizing as a night flashed in her memory, years ago. She turned to rush out the door.  
"Margaret, don't – " A tall, pale man appeared in the doorway and aimed some kind of gun at Ruby. "Ruby, look out!" James yelled, and as the man pulled the trigger he pushed his daughter with all his might –  
– pushing her out of harm's way –  
– pushing her far, far into the future....  
"Ruby!" her mother screamed.  
James staggered as he realized what he'd done. "Oh, god... I...."  
"James!" Margaret's eyes were desperate. "Oh, please tell me – " She froze as the tall man moved into the room.  
James didn't seem to notice. In a stunned voice he told his wife, "Margaret... it'll be... years...."  
"Where is she?" the intruder demanded.  
James laughed weakly. Margaret groped around her husbands desk for paper and pen. "You'll never find her..." James said through laughter that now sounded more like sobbing.  
Margaret wrote quickly and didn't see the man take out another gun. The explosion of powder was much louder and she shrieked in fright, turning to her husband.  
James looked down at his chest, watched the red blossom across his shirt. Suddenly he remembered what his wife had recalled much sooner. He dropped one eyelid in a slow, deliberate wink, a longtime sign of affection between them. "Never find her now...."  
They were his last words.  
Margaret turned to the intruder. She was aware of the gun, but the last thing she really saw was the look of annoyance on his face.  
  
***  
  
Jamie was a tough kid, although his time in Westchester had certainly improved his temperament.  
All the teachers were touched by the brave boy who took the news with such dignity.  
Professor Xavier – Professor X, the kids called him – took the boy aside himself. "Jamie, I'm afraid I have some terrible news for you."  
For a moment Jamie was sure the Professor was going to tell him he failed the history final.  
"No, Jamie," said Professor X with his uncanny insight. "You may want to sit down."  
"What's this all about, sir?" Jamie was annoyed that his voice cracked.  
"It's your parents, and your sister. I'm so terribly sorry to tell you... Your parents have been killed."  
Jamie stared at the Professor in disbelief... yet if there was one person he trusted without question, it was this man.  
He found his voice, and this time it was steady but he didn't notice. "And my sister?"  
"The police are afraid she's been kidnapped. There's been no sign of her, but there was an anonymous tip."  
Jamie found it hard to breathe.  
The Professor held something out to him, a piece of paper. There were strange, rusty marks on it. "The police wanted to keep this, but I convinced them to let you have it."  
With trembling hands, Jamie took the paper and turned it over. He recognized his mother's handwriting.  
  
Jamie,  
Your father had pushed your sister. He said years. I love you. Take care of her when she comes back.  
Mom  
  
Professor X looked at him intently. "Do you understand it, Jamie?"  
James William Redbourne II took a deep breath and nodded. "It means, sir, that my sister wasn't kidnapped." He turned to go.  
"Jamie..." The Professor hesitated. "Jamie, let us know if you need anything, all right?"  
The boy nodded again, then looked the Professor right in the eye. "Please call me James from now on, sir." He paused, then added, "I'll be okay, sir. I have to wait for my sister."  
With that he squared his shoulders and walked out, seeking privacy in which to grieve. 


	2. 41 Years Later

41 years later....  
  
James finished writing the assignment for the next class period on the board and turned to survey the current batch of – for the most part – eager learners. They were finishing up a three question quiz he'd devised to make sure they'd read the assignment: a breeze for this group. James loved to teach smart kids.  
"When you're finished, bring them up to my desk," he said. A few of them were already done and did so immediately. James was left with the happy knowledge that they wouldn't chat until everyone was finished.  
He looked over his desk, but nothing required his attention, so he was left without occupation until everyone finished. Janet would take the longest, he knew – the girl was a voracious writer and usually filled in more information than was strictly necessary, even on these insignificant quizzes.  
His thoughts wandered in the direction they'd often gone lately. Ti'aeva Winters had been the object of his admiration since she'd arrived at the school. Funny, he mused. He'd never cared much for Drama teachers before her appearance.  
At last Janet finished, and James put his thought back where they belonged, in the classroom. "Everyone finished?" he asked redundantly.  
"You know I was the last to finish, Dr. Redbourne," Janet said with a grin.  
"I don't like to make presumptions. Someone else might have tried to out-do you this once." That raised a chuckle. He reached for the stack of quizzed, picked them up and tapped them against his desk to straighten them, then storing them away. It amused the students and staff alike that his desk was always bare of all but a few knick-knacks, the rest of his work being stored away in a place only he could reach. He turned to business. "Someone give me their impression of the assigned reading."  
Colin Fairbank raised a hand and waited for James's nod. "I never was able to sympathize with the south before this. I still don't think they were right, and while I really don't think that everything was the way it was depicted, I at least understand some of them a little better."  
"Who do you mean when you say 'them'?" James pressed.  
"The slave owners," Colin answered promptly. "Some of them really treated their slaves badly. Some of them – well, it seems to me that they were blind to their own contradictions of thought. Like Lutie thinking that slaves couldn't take care of themselves, except Di-Peachy and Sin-Sin. It was like..." Colin paused to search for an appropriate simile, and Janet jumped in.  
"It was like she had caged birds. Like she assumed that tropical birds wouldn't be able to care for themselves, but she had a few sparrows that she would feel okay releasing. She cared about them but... maybe she didn't really understand them."  
"I think she understood them," Violet Maison, a girl with large eyes and dark hair, argued. "I don't know that she understood the larger issues, or slavery in general, but as far as her own slaves were concerned, I think she did understand them – she knew them pretty well."  
Nobody else commented, so James asked, "Why do you think slaves would have fought for the South?"  
There was a pause, then Andrew Thompson volunteered. "I think they didn't really understand the issues. The ones who would have fought would be the ones like we read about. They really actually cared about their masters. They thought the North just wanted to ruin their way of life, and be in control of how the people in the South lived."  
"They didn't want their masters to have masters," Colin said, and the class laughed.  
There was a knock at the door, and Professor McCoy stuck his head in the doorway. James was surprised; as a rule he didn't like interruptions, but Hank McCoy was hardly a typical messenger.  
"I'm so sorry to interrupt your class, James," McCoy said with his typical politeness. "There's a phone call for you."  
James frowned. "It can't wait?"  
McCoy cleared his through awkwardly. "It's from a Mr. LaMotte. He seemed to feel very strongly that you would want to take the call right away."  
At the name LaMotte, James felt the blood drain from his face. It was a good thing he was leaning against his desk, because he suddenly felt quite weak in the knees.  
"Of... of course," he managed. There was only one reason Gregory LaMotte would be calling at this time. "I'll be right there." He took a deep, steadying breath. "Class, you have the unusual luck of being dismissed only a few minutes into our session. Feel free to discuss the reading on your own – just make sure you get the assignment for next time finished."  
The class was buzzing by the time he reached the door.  
He hurried through the mostly empty hallways to his office, where he closed the door behind him.  
He picked up the line. "This is James Redbourne."  
"Hello, James." Mr. LaMotte's voice was calm. "I don't really know how to say this, after all this time.... You probably know why I'm calling, anyway."  
"She's there." His breath went out in a rush.  
"Alice and I were sitting in the dining room, when we heard a crash and a scream from upstairs. We both knew right away. Nothing else it could be."  
James brushed a hand through his hair. He'd been waiting for so long, and though he'd never given up hope, he could scarcely believe it had finally happened. "How is she?"  
There were muffled voices on the other end, then Mr. LaMotte answered. "She's pretty shook up. Needs something familiar, I'd say. I'm gonna put her on the phone."  
There was a pause, and then a voice James hadn't heard in years. "Jamie?"  
"It's me, Ruby."  
"You don't sound like you." Her voice was tremulous, confused.  
He closed his eyes. "Ruby, it'll be okay. I'm a couple hours away – "  
"Jamie, where are Mom and Dad? They were here just a minute ago."  
"I'll explain everything, Ruby." He thought rapidly. "I'll be there as quick as I can, all right?" He waited for her to reply.  
"Okay. But – "  
"Just hang on. This... will be a lot easier to do in person."  
"But – "  
"Please, Ruby, please trust me. I'll be there as fast as I can. Okay?"  
"Okay," she said slowly.  
"All right. I've gotta go. The LaMottes are good people, so if you need anything, let them know. I'll be there before seven."  
"But it's already..." she trailed off and was silent.  
"Don't worry about it yet, Ruby. I'm so glad you're back. I'll be there soon. I love you, sis."  
"I love you too." Her response sounded automated.  
"Bye. I'll be there soon. Bye."  
"Bye."  
He was trying to figure out the fastest route to take and almost bumped into Professor Xavier on his way out.  
"I think we can get you there a little faster than that." The Professor smiled, and James smiled back in astonishment. "Shall we?"  
James nodded and followed the Professor. 


	3. Catching Visions

Ruby sat with her hands folded on her lap, and felt very small in the deep cushions of the couch. The room was familiar, but the furniture was strange, making it even weirder. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the couple sitting in the two chairs facing her. They didn't speak, at least they hadn't in the last ten minutes. They smiled at her, looked at each other, then smiled at her again.  
She offered them a thin, nervous smile of her own.  
Knife stabbing in the dark, glint of steel, blood.  
"Like something to drink, dear?" the woman, Mrs. LaMotte, was asking.  
Ruby blinked, wondering if she'd imagined... a knife?  
"No, thank you," she said softly.  
Blades whistling through the air, screaming woman.  
Ruby jumped like something had bitten her. The whistling continued. "That'll be my tea," Mrs. LaMotte said, pushing herself to her feet. "Are you sure I can't get – "  
Huge snake rearing up, venom dripping, hissing, spitting.  
Mrs. LaMotte was still watching Ruby with concern.  
"N-no thanks," she managed.  
As his wife left the room, Mr. LaMotte leaned forward. "Everything will be find my dear. You'll see. "Your brother will be here soon."  
"What's Jamie – "  
Man standing by chalkboard, points, students raise hands, teacher speaks, students laugh.  
Ruby gave her head a shake. "I'm sorry. I'm so confused."  
Mr. LaMotte nodded. "James said you probably would be. There'll be nothing to worry about – "  
Airplane plummeting, screams, smoke, breaking apart.  
"– he gets here. He's a good man, your brother. You know he let me and Alice stay here for just – "  
Boat damaged, oil spilling, sticky black beach, people yelling, raincoats slick with water.  
"– which is really very reasonable in this day and age. I don't know what's happened to the world. But thanks to James, we – "  
Bodies piled, waiting to be burned, flies buzzing, staring eyes.  
Ruby gasped, cutting Mr. LaMotte off.  
"I'm sorry," she said in response to his puzzled gaze.  
"You're eyes look red, dear," he informed her. "My wife has some eye drops – "  
Hot skin pressing against her, naked bodies, shimmering kisses, smoky eyes, long slow caresses.  
Ruby felt her whole upper body head in a blush.  
She buried her face in her hands. "No... thank you... my eyes, they're just strange." She rubbed them, bewildered by this onslaught of imagery. This had never happened before – she'd had visions, but never so vivid, never so short and sharp... and never so continuous.  
Burst of gunfire, screams, vomiting, men running calling fighting.  
The gunfire seemed to go on and on long after the sights cleared, until Ruby realized the sound was far too regular and growing louder.  
Mr. LaMotte got up to look out the window. "There's James now," he said. "Good thing it's a big lawn."  
She didn't understand, until she stood beside him at the window, watching the helicopter land and the grass thrashing around at this black intrusion.  
She watched as a tall, slender man got out, made some gestures at the pilot and, ducking low, ran toward the house.  
Ruby's vision blurred and for a moment she saw three helicopters speeding away from a fiery ball of orange and red heat. She could feel the blaze against her skin.  
The man walked more slowly, his hair still whipping in the chopper's wind. He looked familiar – Ruby thought he looked a lot like her father.  
"Jamie?" she whispered, pressing a hand against the glass of the window.  
Mr. LaMotte went to let him in.  
Ruby stood with her back to the window, regarding the tall stranger with her brother's eyes behind narrow glasses. She felt a tremble go down her body.  
"Ruby...." He took a hesitant step toward her. His voice reminded her of Dad's.  
"You can't," she choked out, "you can't be Jamie."  
"Ruby... why don't you sit down? I can explain everything." He spoke calmly, soothingly, as he gestured for her to be seated, as though he was afraid she might bolt. She wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't.  
Outside, the helicopter blades slowed and quieted. Ruby scampered for a seat, feeling like a frightened animal.  
"Where's Dad?" she asked sharply. "Where's Mom?"  
The slender stranger took a deep breath, eyes closed. He sat on the far end of the couch, near her but not too near. "Wow," he said, not looking at her. "I've imagined this moment thousands of times. I never thought it would be so hard."  
"Where are my parents?" Ruby asked again, desperately denying what she knew with increasing certainty must have happened.  
"What do you remember?"  
She saw a flash, a man in dark clothing pointing a gun at her mother. "There was a man," she said haltingly. "He shot at me – Dad pushed me out of the way, and I stumbled. Then Mom and Dad, and the man, they all disappeared. I got a little dizzy, and I started seeing things."  
She paused to shudder, watching in her mind as a car came to a screeching halt, but not soon enough, and a body flew forward, blood spraying in a red arc across the car and street.  
"I keep seeing things. And Mom and Dad are gone." Her voice shook and she pressed her hands against her knees in an effort to steady herself.  
The man sitting across from her – the man who was, impossibly, her little brother – squeezed his eyes shut again.  
"Ruby...." He reached a hand toward her, then let it drop. "When Dad pushed you out of the way, he pushed you forward. In time."  
Ruby shook her head as he confirmed what her mind had been so busy denying.  
"Just like the cat. You disappeared. For a while the police thought you'd been kidnapped, but they never found anything. Eventually you were presumed dead."  
"But what about Mom and Dad?" Ruby persisted.  
He sighed. "They were killed. The man that attacked you that night killed them."  
Ruby shunted that aside – that wasn't possible. She had seen her parents so recently. They'd been talking, laughing. Just hours ago.  
She looked at her brother, horror dawning slowly in her eyes. "How long?"  
He regarded her steadily as he said, "Forty-one years."  
She let out a little choking sob, her eyes darting to the floor and back to Jamie's face. "What about Richard?"  
Jamie moistened his lips. "Well, it's – it's been forty years. I don't... ah.... We'll find out where he is, get ahold of him. Okay?"  
She nodded mutely, seeing in her mind Richard standing in a church with a tall brunette in a brilliant white wedding gown.  
"Ruby." Jamie touched her shoulder tentatively. He said her name over and over like he was afraid he didn't have her attention. "I'm going to take you home, all right? To my home. I have some of your things there. To help you feel... better."  
Ruby saw flames dancing before her, smelled scorched flesh, heard coughing and angry screams. When her vision cleared Jamie was thanking the LaMottes.  
He escorted her outside, a hand at her elbow in a protective gesture. The blades of the helicopter were picking up speed.  
"Where are we going?" she called over the noise.  
"Westchester," he yelled back.  
Ruby stumbled as blood splattered windows cracked, hiss of gas, flashbang bombs exploding....  
"What's wrong?" Jamie's hand steadied her.  
She shook her head and gestured forward. He helped her into the helicopter then climbed in behind her. He moved slightly stiffly, and she thought, Jamie can't be that old. Jamie's younger than me.  
"Are you okay?" he asked once they were in the air with headphones on.  
"I just... can't make sense of what I see." She stared out the window, not wanting to look at the man who shouldn't be her brother.  
She thought about Richard, about his proposal. She wished she'd just said yes and gone away with him. Or something. She felt a headache like a vice at her temples as she tried to reconcile that a few hours were actually years for everyone else.  
She stared at the landscape moving below them fluidly. The thwack of helicopter blades turned almost hypnotic, and she barely noticed the time passing. The irony of that was not lost on her.  
She must have dozed off, because Jamie was shaking her awake. He helped her out of the helicopter, which, to her surprise, was underground. The blades were barely turning and she wondered briefly why Jamie hadn't wakened her sooner.  
The pilot was climbing out behind her. He was a short man with wild hair, and the force of his presence was briefly blinding to her. He gave her a fierce grin – it wouldn't have taken much to make the expression into a snarl, but she could sense it was well meant.  
A thousand images flashed before her eyes in that moment.  
He frowned a little. "Y'okay, kid?"  
She nodded. "Just... disoriented."  
"Ruby," Jamie called. "This way."  
She gave the man a quick smile and followed her brother.  
Jamie pointed things out to her as they moved down corridors and up several staircases, but she could scarcely hear him. Images, sounds, and sometimes smells overwhelmed her in flashes. She did notice him leading her out of one building and into another.  
Finally he stopped. "This is where I live." He showed her into a suite. "I kept a room for you – I knew you'd get here eventually." He pulled her along and opened a sliding door.  
Ruby stepped into her own room.  
At least it was very similar to her own room. Same posters on the wall, same bedspread and curtains, same books on the same bookshelf. Things were arranged differently but here at least was something familiar.  
"I just wanted you to have something of your own. Help you adjust," Jamie said.  
"Thank you," she said, but couldn't manage anything else.  
He coughed, seeming suddenly a bit awkward. "Well, listen, I'll leave you alone for a while, to think or sleep or whatever you need. I'll be just outside," he pointed, "so if you want anything else, or get hungry, just let me know."  
"Thank you," she said again. She waited until he closed the door, then sank onto the bed.  
She couldn't think about all this, not now – couldn't wrap her mind around the enormity of her displacement. She lay on her side, hugging a teddy bear that Richard had gotten her last Valentine's Day. Well, Valentine's Day forty-one years ago.  
Her eyes closed. She prayed that she would wake up and find that this had all been a bizarre dream. 


	4. Unused Muscles

Ruby waited rigidly in one of her chairs in her brother's office. Her eyes roamed across the pictures on the walls and the knick-knacks on the desk. It had been almost a month since the intruder – well, since she'd come 'back' from her father's push. She was slowly getting the hang of everything, but she felt as though she were adrift, every point of reference she had known was gone.  
After all, her parents were dead. Jamie had lost track of most of her friends, and she had no way to find them – not that she was sure she wanted to. They would all be over sixty. Her very best friend, Julie, had known about her father's talent, and had been one of the few who'd believed Jamie and stayed in touch. Unfortunately, Julie had died of a stomach cancer eleven years ago.  
Ruby snorted. Eleven years ago she'd been a child. It was utterly bizarre to believe that she'd missed forty years of everyone else's life. Even her brother was a complete stranger to her now.  
She felt incredibly lonely.  
She stood as she heard voices in the hall. A shadow hovered, visible through the bubbled glass window of the door, and she heard Jamie talking to someone – a student, from the sound of it, though she only caught a few words. There was a burst of laughter, and Jamie came in, shaking his head.  
He smiled when he saw her. "Sorry about the wait," he said, moving around his desk and gesturing her into a chair.  
She perched on the edge of the chair she'd vacated.  
Jamie chuckled. "I love teaching these precocious kids."  
"I never thought you'd... you'd want to be a teacher."  
He smiled at fond memories. "The teachers here gave me everything. I can't imagine being anywhere else." He straightened up and looked at her, and a stack of papers fell into his hand from nowhere. He set it on his desk and abruptly looked uncomfortable.  
Ruby sighed. That was the look he got when he wanted to tell her something unpleasant.  
He skirted around the topic. "How are you getting along? You like the new place?"  
She shrugged. "It's nice. I guess I'm getting used to things."  
He nodded. "Good. Well, I wanted to see you today because – no more visions?" he interrupted himself.  
"Nothing since the first week." That wasn't strictly true. She seemed to have developed a strange sort of double vision, seeing things happen seconds before they happened. She'd spent hours people-watching; it was something she could actually control, among her powers and among her life. Perhaps the only thing in her control.  
If Jamie sensed her holding back, he gave no indication of it. He took a breath, as though to gather himself, and said, "I tracked Richard down."  
Ruby's heart gave a lurch as she felt simultaneous waves of hope and despair. Jamie handed her a piece of paper from his stack. "I didn't know what you'd want to do, but you can get in touch with him that way. We haven't talked since – well, we had a fight about you coming back."  
"He didn't believe I was alive," Ruby said softly.  
Jamie's slow nod seemed loaded. Ruby ached to see Richard, to have him hold her, but... even if he had believed Jamie, it had been over forty years. She knew, even as she wished it were otherwise, that he couldn't have simply put his life on hold all that time and pined for her.  
She wouldn't really have wanted him to.  
She wanted to go home.  
"I'm sorry," Jamie was saying.  
"It's okay," she cut in quickly, before he could elaborate. "It's not like he could have stopped aging for me or something." She stood abruptly. Jamie looked at her in surprise. "I'm gonna go... go."  
She folded the piece of paper with Richard's address.  
"Anything you need, Ruby, just let me know," he called after her. Just like he always offered.  
Ruby bit her tongue and held back tears. Anything she needed, James got for her. He'd arranged a house for her, a little cottage just outside the school grounds. Someone came and mowed the lawn every couple days. He'd given her a credit card, and offered to get her a ride any time she needed to go anywhere. He made sure her kitchen was stocked, and several times friends of his had stopped by to drop of casseroles. Ruby munched on fruits and veggies and the casseroles grew cold in her fridge.  
She broke into a trot as she came into sight of her cottage, and was running when she hit the door.  
She let out a scream of frustration as soon as the door was shut. She pounded her fists against the wall and kicked the door, then sank to the floor and pounded on that. She indulged in an all-out temper tantrum, until she lay red-faced and gasping on the floor.  
Slowly, she got her breath back. "Good thing I'm so well balanced and non-suicidal," she whispered into emptiness.  
She levered herself off the floor and walked into the bathroom. Splashing her face with cold water restored her equilibrium, but she still didn't want to think.  
She changed into shorts and a tank top. Her running shoes were new, courtesy of James.  
She stretched quickly and set off at a job for the running path that circled the luxurious school grounds. She pounded down the path, then made an effort and smoothed her gait.  
At least when she was physically exhausted she slept dreamlessly. It was hardly a solution, but Ruby had thrown herself into whatever exertions she could think of. Then she focused on the pain of protesting muscles and ignored self-pitying thoughts.  
And, one small positive thing... she could see her improvements in her body. It took a lot longer to wear herself out, and that meant a lot more of her time was occupied.  
It took her a little while to realize that she was being followed. She slowed her page just a little and the doubling of footsteps slowed to match. She might have thought it was her own footfalls, echoing, if she hadn't run here a dozen times and not noticed a similar effect.  
She sped back up to her normal pace, listening hard. Not entirely sure what she was doing, she concentrated like she had as she'd developed her foresight over the last month.  
Then, without actually doing it, she thought about turning her head to look back at whoever was shadowing her. In a flash of red like an afterimage – a foreimage – she saw who it was following her, and then changed her mind about turning her head.  
It was the man who'd flown the helicopter when James had come to get her. She was less concerned with that than the fact that she'd seen him with her power. She wasn't sure how useful that could be, but it was something to think about.  
Ruby wondered why he was following her. She'd seen him around a couple times – he was noticeable, with his short, stocky build and wild appearance. She wondered if he was a teacher – she wondered what he could be a teacher of.  
She kept running, finding his presence, oddly enough, almost comforting. He probably was just jogging, perhaps pacing her without even being aware of it, but having someone so in time with her made Ruby feel a little less lonely.  
At last, lungs burning and calves aching, Ruby slowed to a walk. The pilot – if she'd heard his name, she didn't remember it – fell into place beside her. She noticed that he was barely winded.  
"Must be nice," she managed, "to be in such good shape."  
He chuckled. "I try to keep up."  
She forced a deep breath and her lungs stopped protesting so much. "I don't know about keeping up. Seems you could have passed me a while ago."  
He laughed again but kept his answer to, "Maybe so."  
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Ruby expected him to pick his pace up again, but he seemed content to walk now.  
"How do you like it... here?" she asked, almost timidly but eager to talk to someone.  
He shrugged. "It has its good points."  
He didn't seem inclined to elaborate, but she didn't think it was because he minded the question.  
"Where are you from?" she asked.  
"Hmmm." He scratched an ear. "Suppose Canada, near's it can be reckoned." He paused a moment, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "You?"  
"Massachusetts."  
"Ah, right. Where we picked you up. Are you Redbourne's niece?"  
Ruby stopped walking. "His sister," she said softly. He turned to regard her with curiosity. "It would have told you more to ask when I'm from."  
They had nearly completed a circuit of the grounds, and Ruby's cottage was within sight. She leaned against a tree and really looked at him.  
He raised an eyebrow in response to her comment, and something in his expression told Ruby that somehow he could understand. She found herself telling him – an abbreviated version of – the whole story.  
"So a month ago I was visiting home from college, to tell my parents about my fiancé, and now they and all my friends are dead or gone." She reddened a little and hoped she wasn't whining. "I'm sorry. You probably don't – "  
"It's all right," he cut her off. "Everyone needs someone to talk to sometimes."  
"Thanks," she said. She liked that he was the same height as her. "I haven't told anyone... much of anything. Now I've told a stranger...."  
"Call me Logan," he said.  
"I'm Ruby." She held out a hand, which he shook. As they touched she got a startling image of him wearing only pants, running toward her with a ferocious expression on his face, and carrying a strange set of blades. Before she could make sense of it the image was gone.  
"You okay?" he was asking.  
"Yeah, I just... saw something...."  
He looked over his shoulder doubtfully, then back at her.  
She shook her head. "Sometimes I see things before they happen."  
"What did you see?" he asked slowly.  
She responded just as slowly. "It looked like... you were attacking me. But," she searched for words, "when I see things, I sometimes get feelings. I don't think you were going to hurt me."  
He looked thoughtful for a moment, and Ruby realized they still had their hands clasped. She reclaimed hers and he looked at her again.  
"Thanks for running with me, Logan," she said quickly. "If you're ever bored," she pointed, "that's my house. I could use some company that isn't my brother's friends."  
He grinned and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."  
They trotted off in different directions, and Ruby was left to a more peaceful solitude than she'd felt in a month. "That's better," she murmured as she closed her door and headed toward the shower. It seemed a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and there was an unfamiliar sensation on her face – a smile.... 


	5. People Who Are Older Than They Look

Ruby opened her eyes. She'd been resting on the couch, and she'd fallen asleep. She wasn't sure what had awakened her. Had she been dreaming?  
As she sat up, her eyes fell on the piece of paper with Richard's address. It was still sitting on her coffee table, and she hadn't unfolded it since James had given it to her.  
She reached a hand toward it then pulled back.  
Someone – /i – knocked at her door.  
She jumped up and opened the door. He was leaning against the rail of her little porch, looking back across the school grounds, and holding a six-pack of MGD. The bottles looked cold.  
He looked at her and grinned when she opened the door.  
"Not casserole!" she said by way of greeting.  
He chuckled and held the beer out to her, then hesitated, eyeing her doubtfully. "Are you old enough to have this?"  
She blinked, then said, "Well, I'm technically sixty-three, so what do you think?"  
He laughed again. "Fair enough."  
She leaned back. "Come on in. It's not much." She waved a hand to indicate her humble abode.  
"Sometimes you don't need much." He preceded her to the kitchen and opened the fridge to deposit his beer. "Whoa, you weren't kidding, were you?"  
"I only wish," she lamented, looking over his shoulder at the casseroles crammed on every shelf.  
"What's this green one?" he asked, a hint of amusement coloring his voice.  
"It's either green beans or it's been in there too long."  
Logan managed to fit four of the bottle into the fridge by taking them out of the box. He kept two of them out and followed her back to the living room. There were still pillows on the floor that she'd thrown off the couch during her nap. They sat, and he opened one of the bottles, handed it to her, and opened the other for himself.  
"Thanks," she said, just holding the cool bottle for a moment.  
He looked at her and raised his bottle a little, surprising her with a toast. "To people who are older than they look."  
She laughed and toasted with him. "Hollywood thanks you. And to finally having a friend, in my new when."  
He toasted that quite gravely.  
They drank in silence for a few minutes. Logan finished his drink much more quickly than she did, and set the bottle on the table next to Richard's address.  
He broke the silence, leaning back comfortably in her couch. "If you don't mind my askin', how exactly does this vision stuff of yours work."  
She shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes when I see or hear something, or touch someone, I get images. Flashes. Only... it's like I'm there, watching. I can hear and smell and see everything. But afterwards I usually don't remember. Well, I usually didn't before – before. I think I've had more visions in the last month than I ever did... before." She stopped talking, suppressing a shudder at the thought of that first week of the horrible onslaught of imagery.  
Logan regarded her with deep interest. "So you don't have any control over what you see, or when?" Did he seem a little disappointed?  
She shook her head, looking at her beer instead of him. "Not when it's like that."  
He seemed surprised. "There's another way?"  
Now she looked at him. "Yes. But only since I got here. Now." She went back to tracing patterns on the condensation of her bottle. "When I think about it, I can tell what's going to happen, right before it does. Only a few seconds before. I see it, in red like an afterimage. I, ah, I call it a foreimage."  
He looked completely fascinated by now. "And you can control it? You can do that whenever you want?"  
She nodded. "I seem to be. I've always been able to when I've tried it, so far. I have at least as much control over it as I do with – " She cut herself off. She wasn't sure how most mutants would feel about her other talent.  
"With what?" he pressed.  
"Ah, well," she hedged. "You know how my father pushed me into the future? I can do something like that."  
"What. Like. That?" he asked very deliberately.  
"I can, if I touch another mutant, push their powers into the future."  
"You can do what?" he almost yelled. Ruby shrank away from him a little. "I'm sorry. That's just... well." He looked at her sharply. "You can do that to any mutant?"  
"I... I don't know. I used to – my brother would take things. I was the only one who could get them back."  
Logan laughed. "I bet Guns – ah, James – loved that."  
Ruby smiled uncertainly and continued. "My brother and father are the only mutants I ever used the power on. Mostly because my father...." She faltered a little then continued. "My father was really intrigued by psychic mutations. So I had a chance to fine-tune it pretty well. As in, how far into the future the power would go."  
Logan thought for a minute. "Try it on me," he said suddenly.  
"Are you sure?" she hesitated, but he nodded decisively. "How long?"  
"Two minutes?" He said it as a question, as though to make sure she really had that much control.  
Eyes steady on his, she reached out to touch his arm. She focused.  
His breath hissed out in reaction, and for the first time she wondered just what it was the other mutant felt when she used this power.  
"There." She removed her hand. "If it worked, you shouldn't be able to use your power for two minutes." She took a sip of beer.  
Logan looked at his hand suspiciously. He closed it into a fist, and three long, steely claws shot out of it.  
Ruby almost choked.  
He looked back at her. "Well, that still works." The claws disappeared just as quickly, leaving three bleeding cuts between his knuckles. He stared at them.  
"I guess it doesn't work on all mutants," Ruby said, obscurely disappointed. "Do you, ah, want a bandage or something for that?"  
"Wait." He kept looking at his knuckles. "How much longer?"  
Ruby hid her confusion. "I don't know. Another thirty seconds?" They watched his hand, Ruby perplexed.  
Logan sat for another moment, then rubbed his knuckles with his other hand. The skin beneath the blood was whole.  
"Oh," Ruby breathed.  
Logan met her eyes. "Normally it heals too fast to bleed."  
"So... it worked?"  
"Looks like it."  
Ruby stood abruptly. She went into the kitchen, got a washcloth and dampened it. She stood behind the couch and held out her hand. Logan gave her his bloodied hand and she wiped it clean.  
iHe snarled. Logan spun and fought off another attacker. They were shooting him, overwhelming him. There were too many. His entire body was slick with sweat and blood, but he kept fighting. /i  
She had fallen to her knees. Logan had jumped over the back of the couch and was kneeling before her, holding her shoulders. She gasped as he came into focus.  
"What did you see?"  
Ruby shook her head, still fighting for air. "I don't... I didn't understand it." Not true – she'd never seen anything so clearly. She didn't know how or why, but she knew that for some reason Logan had been there because of her.  
She didn't want to tell him. She avoided looking at him as he picked up the washrag and took it back to the kitchen.  
When he came back she was sitting on the couch again. He sat beside her and handed her a glass of water.  
"Thanks."  
He grunted a response. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back.  
"You doing anything tomorrow?" he asked.  
"Nope."  
He was silent for a minute, thinking. "You want to learn to fight?"  
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His expression was blank.  
She didn't have anything better to do.  
"Okay."  
"I'll come get you tomorrow morning."  
She saw him arriving at her door at 5:30 in an attempt to catch her off guard. She grinned. "Sounds good to me." 


	6. Pieces on the Board

"Ah, here's the one you want." Desire handed Ruby a pair of black pants in her size. Ruby had slimmed down so much that she absolutely had to buy new clothing. She'd taken James at his word and made liberal use of his credit card.  
"Thanks." She draped the pants over her arm with three other pairs. "I think that's enough."  
"I can't believe you fit into those," Desire said, following her back to the dressing room.  
"I can't either." She found an empty stall. "I promise you I didn't a month ago."  
"The way you've been training with Wolverine, I'm not surprised," Desire said through the dressing room door.  
Ruby was still trying to get used to the codenames. She stepped out of the dressing room to show Desire the black pants. "I don't know when I'm going to wear these," she complained to her new friends. "I'm in workout clothes unless I'm asleep." She turned, admiring the pants in the full length mirror. "Sometimes even when I am asleep."  
Desire laughed as Ruby went back into the dressing room to try on the next pair. "I certainly wouldn't want to be in your shoes. Or out of them, as the case may be."  
"He puts me through the paces, all right," Ruby said, stepping out to show off a pair of jeans. "It's supposed to get a lot harder, soon."  
"Those are cute," Desire said, then jumped back to the thread of the conversation. "Why?"  
"Because so far," Ruby said from back inside the dressing room, "he's been teaching me moves, and we've been working on things like my flexibility and endurance." She came out of the dressing room in the second pair of jeans. "But he keeps threatening me that we're going to start actually sparring, and I'm sure I'll be covered with bruises once that starts."  
"Better you than me," Desire said, shaking her head. "I like those, too."  
"This last pair is my favorite." Ruby hurried back to change one last time. She'd picked out a pair of dark brown suede pants. She stepped out of the dressing room and turned this way and that in front of the mirror. "I even like them on me," she said a bit smugly.  
"They look great," Desire said warmly.  
The two women made their way to the cash register so Ruby could make her purchases. "Do you think I should get both pairs of jeans?" she asked hesitantly.  
"Yeah. You don't want to have to do laundry all the time, do you?" Desire teased.  
"I know...." The prices of things were appalling to Ruby, who realized that her idea of money was a little old fashioned. She resolved once more to try not to think of it and just hope that she wasn't paying way too much and just not knowing it. Besides, her clothing was not only too large, now, but also hopelessly out of date. The trouble was, she still liked her clothing. Maybe she could get some of it altered and just resign herself to being 'retro.'  
"We'd better head back," Desire said, checking her watch while steering Ruby out of the store. "You may only be eating and going to bed, but I've got a hot date and I don't want to be late."  
Ruby laughed ruefully. It was just getting dark as they got outside. Although Logan had given her the whole day off – something she hadn't had in five weeks of working out with him – Desire's evaluation of her evening plans wasn't far off the mark. The day off had been restful, even with Desire dragging her all over the mall, but she was looking forward to a nice long sleep before Logan came by to get her in the morning. She had a feeling that he was going to make up for the day off with a vengeance.  
They drove back to the school with Desire gossiping about people Ruby didn't know or had met a handful of times. It was very pleasant. Logan was nice to be around, but not much of a talker. She had told him more about herself than she'd told anyone else, and now she enjoyed letting someone else keep the conversation up.  
Desire drove. Ruby didn't have a license; these days she didn't even have an official identification, though James promised her they were working on that. It didn't take long to get back to the school. Ruby also wasn't sure she was comfortable with the speeds people drove at now.  
There was a group of students and some teachers milling around the front of the school when Desire pulled up; among them, Desire's boyfriend, Heath. His curly golden hair stood out even at a distance – not that Desire would have trouble spotting him. She parked haphazardly to fling herself out of the car and into his arms. Ruby followed more sedately, grinning.  
She spotted James and waved at him. He beckoned her over to where he was sitting with Professor Xavier and several other teachers she didn't know. When she reached them James gave her an affectionate sideways hug.  
"You've met Professor Xavier, right, Ruby?" he asked.  
"Yes, nice to see you again, Professor." She shook hands with him briefly.  
"Likewise. Ruby, this is Dr. Jean Grey, and Sean Cassidy, who's visiting us from his own school."  
"Nice to meet you." She found a spot to sit and leaned against one of the tall pillars framing the entrance.  
She watched the kids organizing a game of flashlight tag. She smiled as one of the pirokinetics sent up a shower of sparks, illuminating the whole area for a moment. Playful yells grew farther away as the kids scattered.  
Suddenly, like a blood rush, the yells grew louder in her ears. She gripped the stair on either side of her, keeping hold on reality with her touch on the cool stone. Then even that was gone, and she was standing in blazingly bright sunlight; it beat down hot on her skin. People crowded tight around her, laughing and calling to one another. Some of them held signs. iMutants For Peace/i, she read, and iPrivacy Rights For All/i. Jean Grey, Charles Xavier, and some other people she only vaguely recognized were standing on a raised platform at one end of the crowd.  
Someone took her hand. She turned and saw Xavier standing calmly beside her.  
"The rally. This Saturday," he told her. "Do you have any idea why you're seeing it?"  
"Not yet," she said, a sick feeling in her stomach telling her it wouldn't be pleasant.  
Someone bumped into her, and she stumbled, but Xavier kept her hand clasped firmly. A woman carrying a sign that read iI ♥ My Mutant Son/i was shouldering her way through the crowd. Ruby's eyes were drawn irresistibly to her.  
"Do you recognize her?" Xavier asked.  
"No," Ruby said, but she wasn't certain. "She seems familiar, but I don't know her."  
She felt a jolt, and the sun was farther along its path in the sky. The noise was gone, and one of the people she didn't recognize was speaking at the podium.  
"Our sons, our daughters, our brother and sister! Should we not welcome them? Should we antagonize those who should be closest to us? Should we live in fear, instead of love?"  
A resounding "No!" met the query.  
Ruby looked at Xavier, who met her gaze. They turned to scan the crowd as the speaker began again.  
There was a shout, carried with a note of panic. An explosion rocked the ground, and the crowd erupted in screams. Ruby fell to her knees, one hand held tightly in Xavier's, the other clutching the arm of his wheelchair.  
Gunshots exploded through the crowd in a deafening clatter. People tried to duck, and now were in danger of stampeding. Ruby glimpsed Jean with a hand thrown up in warding, keeping those on the platform safe from the deadly onslaught. She was unable to stop all the bullets that tore through the crowd. Blood, warm and wet, splattered across Ruby's cheek and shoulder. A man fell to the ground in front of her, hands pressed against his stomach even as his insides spilt.  
"Ruby." Xavier drew her attention. "I think we've seen enough."  
Abruptly she was back in the cool night air at the school. Xavier was on the stoop next to her, and he released the hand he'd taken.  
Ruby drew in a shuddering breath and wiped convulsively at her cheek, although the blood had only been in her vision.  
"Thank you," Xavier said kindly. "I believe we can prevent that particular disaster." His smile was gentle, reassuring, and Ruby nodded gratefully before he turned away. "Yeah, will you come with me? There are some calls we need to make."  
"Of course, Professor."  
Ruby didn't watch them go. She looked out across the grounds where lightning bugs flickered invitingly.  
Desire touched her shoulder cautiously. "You okay, hon?"  
Ruby nodded again. "Tired. I'm going to head home."  
"Want company?" the other woman asked.  
"Sure." Ruby accepted a hand up. "Night, James," she said with a wave over her shoulder.  
Desire linked elbows with her and they walked back to the cottage, getting tagged by flashlights only twice. 


	7. Spies

"You wanted to see me, Charles?" Logan asked as he entered Xavier's office.  
"Yes." The Professor waved him in, still absorbed in a stack of papers on the desk before him. After a moment he looked up. "You've been training James Redbourne's sister, Ruby?"  
"Yeah." Logan wondered briefly where this was going. "She catches on quick."  
"With you as her teacher, I've no doubt," Xavier said, perfectly blandly.  
Logan merely raised an eyebrow.  
"Have you had any problems – well, interruptions – in your training sessions, due to her powers?"  
"No," Logan said, thinking back. Not due to her precognitive powers, anyway. He himself had interrupted the physical training to make her practice her other power, until she could neutralize his healing factor for as much as half an hour with the slightest touch.  
"She had a vision the other night, about today's rally. I read her mind in the middle of it – it was quite intense." Xavier paused, and though his expression was calm, Logan though that perhaps the experience had shaken him. "I'd be interested to try a few tests, to see what stimulates the visions, and to find out if they could be more controlled. If, of course, she's up for it."  
"She's tougher than she looks," Logan said. The Professor gave him a long, appraising look. Logan shrugged. "It would be a tremendous asset to us to have powers like that at our disposal – to know where the worst things will be before they happen." He held up a hand as Xavier started to speak. "I'm not implyin' that any of our people can't handle themselves, but some of you tend to put yourself in more danger than necessary."  
Xavier chuckled and waved his hand. "Point conceded. Well, do as you see fit. I trust your judgment. There is one other favor I'd like to ask of you." Logan waited, and after a moment Xavier continued. "I've asked Ms. Redbourne to go to the rally today. She's our best chance at catching anything else that might go wrong. I'd like it if you'd keep an eye on her."  
Logan grimaced. A hot, crowded rally – even one that was pro-mutant – wasn't exactly a thrilling prospect for him. Even so... "I can do that."  
"Excellent." Someone knocked at the door. "Come in, Ms. Redbourne," Xavier called. He continued once she was in the room. "Wolverine, here, has agreed to accompany you to the rally. I thought you'd feel better with him along."  
Logan gave Xavier an exasperated look over Ruby's shoulder.  
"Thank you, Professor. I'm still not quite sure why you want me there." Ruby was standing just in front of Logan, and he could read tension in every line of her body.  
"Two reasons, really," Xavier explained, radiating reassurance as he moved around his desk to talk to her. "First of all, and most importantly, I'd like to demonstrate to you that the things you see are not foregone conclusions. Your foreknowledge will allow us to prevent what you saw; there will be no massacre, and I think you'll feel much better knowing that."  
Logan could see Ruby relaxing at those words. Massacre? What had the poor kid seen?  
"Secondly," Xavier went on, "you are quite an effective early warning system. It may be a bit selfish of me, but if anything else were to go wrong, I'd like to have you on hand to let us know."  
"All right, sir. I understand." Ruby looked back at Logan. He dropped one eyelid in a wink.  
"Just try to enjoy yourself," Xavier said, propelling himself forward. "I've got to go, but I'll see you there." He stopped when he reached Ruby and took her hand. "Try not to worry, my dear. Wolverine won't let anything happen to you."  
They both turned to look at Logan, and there was a ghost of a smile on Ruby's face as she said, "I know."  
Xavier preceded them out, and Logan gestured to Ruby. He could tell she was still edgy. "I really won't let anything happen to you," he said as they walked out to the garage.  
"I know. I just can't believe that there's a way around the things I saw."  
Logan gripped her elbow lightly. "If Charles says it won't happen, then it won't happen. Now – how do you feel about motorcycles?"  
Logan's tendency to speed got them to the rally site before the Professor or any of the other speakers. Ruby was rigid with tension as they moved among the drink vendors and milling people. The sun beat down on them viciously, and cranky children whined to their parents.  
Logan wasn't sure if Ruby's stress was catching, or if something else was putting him on his guard.  
The first speaker began; Logan paid him no heed. TV cameras were staged all around, most of them directed at the speaker and the podium, but a few panning the crowd. Logan moved himself and Ruby out of the path of one that had already filmed them and was headed back again.  
"You seein' anything?" he asked her.  
"Just way too many people," she answered a bit grimly. He couldn't argue with that.  
They moved slowly around the perimeter, out of the thickest part of the crowd, just taking care not to get separated. Logan saw the man with the scarred cheek and the mangled ear for the third time right as Ruby froze in fear. Her eyes were riveted on the speaker.  
"Should we live in fear, instead of in love?" the speaker asked.  
"No!" came the cry from the ralliers.  
"Now," Ruby said, fright making her eyes wide. "Now is when it happens."  
"We much learn to trust each other," the speaker continued. "Only then can we stand strong against those who would divide us!"  
Logan stopped listening again as Ruby sagged in relief. She pressed her palms against her eyes, trembling. Then she shook herself, and abruptly looked more cheerful than she had all day.  
They walked a little more, skirting the edge of the crowd. Logan saw the scarred man again, and now he was certain the man was watching one of them. Which one of them was still questionable.  
Ruby leaned against a building, in the shade of an awning, and fanned herself with both hands. "Insane to have a rally in this kind of heat, anyway."  
"Stay here," Logan said. "I'll get us something cold to drink."  
He stopped at the closest vendor and bought two ridiculously overpriced drinks. A flash of movement caught his attention; the scarred man was moving rapidly toward Ruby, whose attention was back on the speaker. Suddenly alarmed, Logan hurried back to her.  
The scarred man slowed, then stopped when Logan reached her. Logan stared at him – no point in pretending he hadn't seen him now. The man glared. Logan put himself between the man and Ruby and glowered right back.  
"What is it?" Ruby asked, noticing something was wrong.  
He gave her both drinks, so to have his hands free. "Our disfigured friend over yonder is uncommonly interested in you. Recognize him?"  
"No." Ruby set the drinks on a window sill. "Do you think he's connected with what was supposed to happen today? That they somehow figured out that I saw what they were going to do?"  
"I don't know," Logan said shortly.  
"They won't do anything here, will they?" There was a tremor in her voice; if this man was involved with the same people, they had, of course, been planning on 'doing something here.'  
"You see anything?" Logan asked, glancing around to see if he could spot anyone the scarred man might be working with. Way too many possibilities. The man was moving away, fading back into the crowd.  
"Nothing," Ruby answered him.  
"I think we've been here long enough." He propelled her with a hand at the small of her back, toward the parking lot. Logan couldn't be sure if people were just leaving or if they were still being tailed, and it bugged him.  
Ruby climbed on his motorcycle behind him, hands at his ribs. As he sped up, she slid her arms more snugly around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder blade. He could feel her heartbeat where she pressed against his back, just a shade too fast with a residue of fright. 


End file.
